


hair and now

by Spring_Emerald



Series: it's only words [14]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, I apologize for the terrible title, Minor Original Character(s), look at my title skills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 11:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16283936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spring_Emerald/pseuds/Spring_Emerald
Summary: However, no matter how many videos Daichi watch and no matter how much time he spends watching them, he can never determine if he can actually do it until he tries it out on a willing model.It’s when they’re in the locker room, changing clothes after a rigorous practice that involved a practice match with the Neighborhood Association that he realized that thereissomeone he could practice his newly acquired skill on.





	hair and now

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HomeForImaginaryFriends](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/gifts).



> Requested by **HomeForImaginaryFriends (thatishogwash)** over at tumblr for the ship+word writing meme.  
>  AsaDai + 'soft'
> 
> Enjoy!

Daichi hadn’t meant to stay and watch.

His mother just asked him to drop off the snacks and drinks she prepared for Harumi and her friends and like the dutiful son and helpful eldest, he followed.

“Harumi?” He says, balancing the tray on one hand as he gently knocks on the door of her room. “Your snacks are here.”

“You can come in, onii-chan!”

He opens the door and Daichi sees her and her friends, lying on their stomachs on the plush circular carpet, focused on the video they are watching on their dad’s old laptop.

“Where should I put this?” Noting the absence of the low, foldable table.

“Beside you, onii-chan,” Harumi replies distractedly, eyes not leaving the screen and Daichi shakes his head in amusement before looking down beside him to find the table he’s looking for there. He places the tray on the table and starts to leave, but curiosity got the better of him. Instead of walking out the door, he steps into the room.

“What are you watching?” He squats down behind his sister to get a closer look.

Harumi turns her head to look up to her brother. “Braiding tutorials, onii-chan.” As soon as she says this Daichi sees a long, sleek wig on the screen being deftly styled in intricate braids and twists. He raises an eyebrow at the effort, but strangely enough, understands the appeal of it. It is kind of riveting.

“Uhm,” Harumi’s hesitant tone cause him to look at her. “Thank you for bringing the snacks, Dai-nii.” She raises her eyebrows meaningfully. She’s politely telling him to leave them alone, which he does, but not before patting her once on the head.

Since then, Harumi has taken to styling her hair in different braids. Most of them are simple enough to be done alone, but there had been instances where she came home sporting a different braid style, which could have been done with the help of her friends.

It isn’t a few days later, while he’s mindlessly scrolling through his phone taking a break from studying when he looks up videos of hair braiding tutorials, and inevitably spend hours instead of the initial 15 minutes he set up for himself. Not that he completely minds though. There’s something…cathartic and very educational about the videos. Besides, you’ll never know when learning a skill from observation could come in handy.

However, no matter how many videos Daichi watch and no matter how much time he spends watching them, he can never determine if he can actually do it until he tries it out on a willing model. He knows he can ask Harumi if he could braid her hair for her, but he’s not sure if he’s ready to let her know that just yet.

It’s when they’re in the locker room, changing clothes after a rigorous practice that involved a practice match with the Neighborhood Association that he realized that there _is_ someone he could practice his newly acquired skill on.

Daichi mentally slapped his forehead at his stupidity as he watches Asahi’s towel his hair, ridding it of sweat, and lets it stay down to dry it out.

He doesn’t realize that he has been staring for quite some time until Noya obviously and none too gently elbowed Asahi on the side.

Asahi grunts. “Nishinoya, what the-”

“You’re in trouble, Asahi-san! Daichi-san’s been staring at you!” He says, far too excited for someone delivering such a news.

Expectedly, Asahi flinches and hunches his shoulders, slowly looking over his shoulder to find that Daichi indeed is staring at him.

“W-what did I do, D-Daichi?” He played quite well, if he says so himself. He’d actually been praised by Ukai-san regarding a hard spike that won them the first round. Takeda-sensei complimented him, about how he feels that Asahi seems surer of himself and his plays and that he has ‘steady footing despite the continuous change in the rhythm’, whatever that really means.

Daichi doesn’t really mean anything by it, and he doesn’t think that he’s making a mean face, but since he finds delight in teasing his friend, he just continues to look back at him quietly, appearing nonplussed at being caught.

Asahi gulps. “Uhmm, Suga… help?” He glances at their other friend.

Suga just shuts his locker door with a loud bang.

“Nope, sorry. You’re on your own, buddy. Gotta go. Got an errand to run.” Grabbing his bag from the floor, he leaves quickly after giving Asahi a bright smile, and slapping his shoulders on his way out. He probably meant that one as good luck, but the strength of it tells Asahi otherwise.

“Relax,” Daichi finally says, slapping him on the other shoulder, just as roughly as Suga did. “I was just messing with you.”

Asahi eyes him warily, but finally relaxes his shoulders as he’s told. “I have a need for you though, so stay.”

“W-what?” Asahi sputters from under the shirt he’s putting on and looks at Daichi, alarmed, once he’s got his head free. “Why?”

Daichi snorts. “Stop worrying, you wimp. You make it sound like I’m going to kill you and throw your body on the cliff.”

“Daichi!”

“I just want to try something, alright? But you don’t want the others to be around for it.” He looks behind them and meets the eyes of their curious underclassmen. They received the unspoken order clearly and promptly trickled out of the room, leaving Daichi and Asahi alone.

Satisfied that no one is outside, eavesdropping, Daichi looks back at Asahi with a smirk and says, “So, have you tried braiding your hair before?”

Asahi blinks at him for a few beats before answering with a hesitant “…No.”

“Great! Now sit down and let me do it for you!”

And so Asahi finds himself sitting crossed-leg on the floor, Daichi behind him and carefully tugging on his long hair, doing god knows what. He must admit that this is not what he’s expecting when Daichi asked him to stay. He thought it’s related to volleyball, or even something unrelated but completely serious.

Although… it feels nice. Daichi’s fingers running across his scalp as he gather’s hair here and there, feels like a massage and it’s actually really good.

“How do you keep your hair soft?” Daichi asks, disturbing the quietness they found themselves in. He’s been friends with Asahi for a long time, but this is virtually the first time he’s ever played with his hair. He doesn’t know that Asahi actually puts care to maintain it.

“Ah, Shimizu recommended a good conditioner. Because even though she suggested I change my hairstyle, it being tied up all the time can still damage it.” He touches his hair self-consciously. “I didn’t think it’s anything special, but thanks, I guess.”

Daichi only hums. “There, done.”

Asahi frowns and gingerly touch his hair to feel what has been done to it, but a mirror shows up in front of him in an instant. He turns his head and sees that Daichi’s made him a crown braid. There are a lot of questions he wants to ask Daichi. Mostly, why and what was he thinking, but he settles on “How did you learn to do this?”

He sees Daichi shrug from behind him in the mirror. “I watched videos. Did you like it?”

Asahi blinks at the question and studies himself at mirror again. Oddly enough, it looks nice. He wonders how long this hairstyle can hold if he actually wears it like this during practice.

“Yes. I like it.”

Daichi grins at him. “Good. And since you did, that means you’ll be helping me out tomorrow again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :)


End file.
